Towards nightfall we had made
a matter of some five-and-twenty miles, and camped at the point where the
river entered upon the gorge.
The weather was delightfully warm, considering that the valley in which
we were encamped must have been at least two thousand feet above the
level of the sea. The river-bed was here about a mile and a half broad
and entirely covered with shingle over which the river ran in many
winding channels, looking, when seen from above, like a tangled skein of
ribbon, and glistening in the sun. We knew that it was liable to very
sudden and heavy freshets; but even had we not known it, we could have
seen it by the snags of trees, which must have been carried long
distances, and by the mass of vegetable and mineral _debris_ which was
banked against their lower side, showing that at times the whole river-
bed must be covered with a roaring torrent many feet in depth and of
ungovernable fury. At present the river was low, there being but five or
six streams, too deep and rapid for even a strong man to ford on foot,
but to be crossed safely on horseback. On either side of it there were
still a few acres of flat, which grew wider and wider down the river,
till they became the large plains on which we looked from my master's
hut.
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